NATION DATELINES

Compiled from Examiner wire reports

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 8, 1998

AH: Feds investigating bank robber's death Los Angeles Federal officials are investigating claims that Los Angeles police allowed a bank robber to bleed to death after a wild shootout in North Hollywood last year.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gennaco said the probe by the Justice Department and the FBI has been under way since shortly after the Feb. 28, 1997, shootout. It was expanded to include facts uncovered by a recent Los Angeles Times investigation.

Emil Matasareanu, 30, and Larry Eugene Phillips Jr., 26, were wearing body armor and carrying automatic weapons when they held up a Bank of America. The ensuing firefight left 11 officers and five others wounded.

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Phillips shot himself in the head at about the same time a police bullet hit his neck, according to the coroner's office. But the Times said Matasareanu bled to death as he lay in the street for about an hour without treatment.

The conclusion was based on a reconstruction using police and fire radio transmissions, internal reports, videotape footage, photographs and witness interviews.

Gay activists win partner benefits

Philadelphia After a five-year fight by gay activists, the City Council approved a measure Thursday to extend health and pension benefits to same-sex partners of city workers.

Mayor Edward Rendell said he will sign the proposed ordinance and two others the activists sought.

Same-sex partners of city workers would qualify for benefits after proving they are involved in a "life partnership," including shared bank accounts, dual property ownership and insurance beneficiary designation.

Other measures approved by the City Council would exempt same-sex partners from the real estate transfer tax and ban on-the-job discrimination based on marital status.

Men falsely convicted settle for $2 million

Portland, Ore. Two men imprisoned for eight years for a murder they did not commit have settled their lawsuit against the city of Springfield and two police officers for $2 million.

Eric Proctor and Christopher Boots were released in 1994 after police determined someone else committed the 1983 murder of Raymond John Oliver, a 19-year-old convenience store clerk.

Proctor, 33, and Boots, 34, filed a $42 million lawsuit in 1995. They contended investigators intimidated witnesses into false testimony and gave incorrect information on lab tests.

The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.

Baby bitten nearly 100 times by pet rat

Arlington, Texas A 6-month-old boy was in critical condition after being bitten nearly 100 times by his family's 5-pound pet rat.

The mother of Lamonte Coruthers told police the baby had been asleep in a bedroom for 10 to 15 minutes Wednesday when she went to check on him and found him covered with blood. She said she had had the stereo on and did not hear any cries from him.

The child lost a large amount of blood and may need reconstructive surgery on the muscle of his upper left arm, police said. The child also had bites on his face, right arm and left foot.

Disputed human eggs

may be destroyed Albany, N.Y. Five fertilized human eggs left frozen and in legal limbo after the couple that created them divorced can be destroyed despite the woman's wishes to use them to try to have children, New York's highest court ruled.

New York's Court of Appeals in a 7-0 decision Thursday ordered that the five eggs from Maureen Kass artificially fertilized by her husband, Steven, in 1993 can be donated to research. The decision upheld an agreement the Long Island couple signed before going through the test-tube fertilization process.&lt;